Intergenerational attitudes towards Dutch language maintenance in New Zealand

This paper discusses the results of an exploratory study undertaken to investigate changes in individual and societal attitudes towards Dutch language maintenance across three periods of arrival in New Zealand from the 1950s to the present. Eleven representatives of Dutch families of three different periods of arrival in New Zealand completed a written questionnaire enquiring about their level of Dutch proficiency, patterns of language use, and their attitudes and perceptions of societal attitudes towards Dutch language maintenance in New Zealand in the past and present. An analysis of the resulting data suggests that although intergenerational language shift has so far occurred at a similar rate across periods of arrival, individual and societal attitudes towards Dutch language maintenance are more positive today than in the 1950s, and these changes in attitude may impact on the degree of Dutch language maintenance in New Zealand.